Mild spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched Alien: Earth’s premiere on FX or via Hulu subscription, so be warned!
In a year that’s already seen Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crossing over for NSFW hilarity, one might not have thought a stranger pop culture melding could happen in any 2025 TV shows. Yet along came Alien: Earth to blow away expectations with its horrifying leech creatures, its child-to-adult hybrids, and of course, its reverent inclusion of Ice Age’s Sid the Sloth. Wait, no, that can’t be ri…yep, okay, that’s exactly what happened.
The first two episodes of Alien: Earth debuted on FX and Hulu after many months of fans’ eager waiting, and amidst all of the icky facehuggers and fleeting glimpses of other threats was the start of Wendy’s story. Considering the series’ opening lays it out plainly that human hybrids are technology’s next big nexus point, the children are likely going to be a core part of the story for the rest of the first season at least.
It’s perhaps telling that this part of the story quickly aligned itself with two different pop culture staples: Peter Pan and Ice Age. The former is an easier reference to understand within this story, with its theme of children who don’t grow old, but the latter is a bit more of a mystery. Or at least it would be if some viewers weren’t already accepting it with wide-open arms. Check out some of the excited reactions below.
- You wouldn't expect it to happen in the new Alien tv show but there's a shot where Sid from Ice Age shows up as part of some reminiscing crossfade for a character and I fucking lost it. No notes - @Adrianwong87
- These first two episodes of Alien Earth were pretty good. There's good pacing, there's action, there's Sid from Ice Age, what more could you ask for? - @Draco720
- Imagine my confusion falling asleep watching Alien Earth, waking up and seeing Sid the sloth just appear in the background of a shot randomly - @JBHUURR34
- There's a scene in Alien Earth where Sid the Sloth from Ice Age slowly fades onto the screen as a transparent overlay during a really emotional scene, and I gotta say that's... that's just wonderful. - @GodzillaMendoza
- I didn’t expect Sid the Sloth from Ice Age to be in canon with Alien…but here we are. (no I am not joking, and I thought I was hallucinating when I saw it). - @DarkAgent1984
I must say, I can understand all the confusion. At no earlier point in the Alien franchise were any characters revealed to be watching Ice Age movies, though I guess it makes sense that none of the non-Earth locations or spaceships had DVD players in them.
Yet the children were indeed shown to be watching it and loving it within the Neverland island facility. So often in futuristic stories, modern-day pop culture doesn't make appearances, while projects like Futurama self-awarely address the strangeness of referencing songs and movies that are 1,000 years old. Things aren't quite so ancient in Alien: Earth's timeline, which is just two years before Ridley Scott's original film.
Whatever the reasoning or details behind it, a smaller subset of viewers spoke out about Sid the Sloth's cameo with a slightly less accepting approach.
- Watching alien earth….. WHY THE FUCK IS SID THERE - @hangmantale
- I genuinely cannot fucking believe a transparent image of Sid the Sloth appears in the background during Alien: Earth. Like, I am at a loss for words. I can’t even find the energy to be mad. I just haven’t been this confused in a long time. I’m fucking nauseous. - @TheToastyToes
I do hope that viewer feels better by this point, but I did have to chuckle at the idea of someone suffering cold sweats and nausea just from seeing an Ice Age character pop up so completely out of place. Heaven help us all if Garfield or Rude Dog shows up at any point. Bluey might make sense, though. Not that they all need to be animated animals.
Alien: Earth streams new episodes Tuesdays on FX and Hulu.
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